Guard Duty
by Airess Byrd
Summary: Slight spoilers for LoM. Nothing was going to stop Elazul from finding Pearl. Nothing.


Standard disclaimer: I don't own Legend of Mana or its characters.

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AN: Good day :) So, I see that people liked the last LoM fic that I wrote. LoM is really fun to write for. Hehe. Right, so I was feeling inspired again ^_^;;; This fic has spoilers in it, 'kay? Its right after Pearl's big "transformation" and Sandra's "true identity" are revealed. You know, where Elazul gets his core scratched by Sandra? Yeah, after that group of scenes.

Okay, after reading Memories and Imagination by Meeerf, (by the way GO READ AND REVIEW!!! This I command you! Oh, and go read Descent of Mana: The Lost Swords by Tiamat42 and GO READ AND REVIEW!!! And go read Tales of Fa'Diel!!!! It's another nice fic of LoM!!! GO READ AND REVIEW!!!!) I was able to see how the game ends. Hehe!

As for story mechanics, this is Heroine/Elazul pairing *^_^* How can you NOT love those two together!? Hehe, anyway I was having GREAT difficulty giving a name for the Heroine. I wanted something that sounded cool and pretty, but still tough, ya know? But in the end, I decided to go with Ceres. That's the name of the Goddess of the Harvest in Roman mythology. So Ceres=Heroine. Hee :) But, anyway, I hope this story is okay...

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Guard Duty

Elazul was not having a good day. Actually, it had not been a good week. He was currently being forced, against his will, to lie in bed while his wayward Guardian got herself into who knows what kind of trouble.

Now, why was he exactly lying in bed? Well, it was all thanks to that bitch Sandra's calling card that struck his core, injuring it in the process. Yes, he really didn't like Sandra. Loathed her was more like it. It was because of that core hunter that most of his race was dead, their cores ripped from them…

He shook his head slightly and clenched his fists shut. Okay, so thinking about the bitch was not making him feel the least bit better. And the fact that every time he breathed he felt like a thousand knives were being shoved into his lungs, ripping out the air that was trying to fill them.

Yeah, core injuries sucked major amounts of ass. Oh, and they were usually lethal, too. How he managed to survive after his core was damaged was beyond him. Maybe Mana had it out for him.

All that he knew was that Pearl was gone and in her place was a darker image, a darker woman that wore the face of his sweet Guardian.

His Guardian that had the uncanny ability to get herself lost. How she managed it, he'd never know. She drove him absolutely nuts sometimes. He could be standing around in the middle of a town, Pearl at his side. All he would have to do was take his eyes off of her for one precious second and poof! She was gone.

Well, at least his days were never boring. Pearl was… odd. She could not remember anything before the time he found her out in the desert, all those many years ago. She was like a lost princess sometimes. Didn't Sandra call her that? A lost princess? She could get herself in some of the strangest situations, the most dangerous of situations, and come out of it safe and sound.

It was something that Elazul did not understand. He didn't have the faintest clue as to what his diminutive Guardian was thinking even half the time. She was small enough to be mistaken for a child, she often acted like one, but she was clearly a woman. She always wore a dreamy expression on her face, like her mind was on one of the moons.

But this woman, this… Blackpearl… frightened him. He wasn't exactly scared of the woman that once stood in his Guardian's place. He was not afraid of the Knight of the Clarius. What truly frightened him was the fact that this darker image would erase the lighter side of her soul… erase Pearl… and leave him alone in the world once more.

A lump formed in his throat at the thought of losing Pearl. It he could cry, he would have right at that second. But the Jumi had lost their inherence, their tears long gone before he was born. Such a dejected legacy he was left with. The once proud Jumi, lost in the sands of time.

He closed his eyes, trying hard not to think about the fact that his Guardian had left him to die. If it had not been for Ceres, he most certainly would have died. Heh, she was another woman that drove him nuts. He had a strange habit of gathering women that seemed to enjoy pushing and testing what was left of his sanity.

He knew, however, that like Pearl, Ceres was someone that he was finding himself caring for more and more each day. He loved Pearl with his entire being. That would never change. Pearl was his duty, his life, his reason for being. She gave him a duty, a sense of purpose. To him, she was someone to love, to protect.

Ceres was entirely something else all together. The woman was a mercenary by trade. She was also a wicked blacksmith that forged her own weapons. She was a hyper active, stab-happy psycho that practically forced him to take her along with him when he lost Pearl in the Merkiv Caverns.

Oh, it wasn't that Ceres was pushy. She just had a personality that seemed to… grow on a person. He almost would describe her as… clingy. Okay, not quite that, but once she got involved with a situation, there was no getting rid of her. Too bad Escad had to find that little fact out the hard way. Those two did just not get along. Ceres always did seem to get along better with Daena anyway.

Elazul seemed to prefer Daena himself. She wasn't as… eccentric as Escad. Maybe eccentric wasn't the word. It was more like he was crazy. More so than Ceres, and yes that was saying something.

Elazul relaxed his body against the soft mattress padding and tried to clear his mind. Sadly, it was not working. It also didn't help that every single time that he started to feel himself drift off, Ceres' twin apprentices would appear right at his bedside, with some new spell to try on him, trying to fix his scratched core. Elazul's body tensed slightly and cracked open one eye, half expecting see Lisa flinging a fireball or Bud summoning some rocks.

What he saw, however, was not the twin elven terrors, but Ceres' yellow, fluffy pet Rabite staring down at him from the edge of the headboard. He yelped in shock and nearly jumped out of bed. He screamed as he clutched his core, the injury causing him great pain.

"Elazul! Lie back down!" Ceres' medium soprano voice chimed throughout the room.

Elazul jerked his head in the direction of her voice. Standing before him at the foot of the bed was the blond haired Sprite. Every time he saw her, she took his breath away. She was only a few inches shorter than him, but when she was mad, she could take those inches and run with them. It always seemed like she was towering over him when she was pissed. Especially at him.

She was like a goddess of misguided perfection. She seemed like nothing out of the ordinary. She wasn't anything special, not at first. At first she was just a small town girl that didn't know much about the world outside of her domain. Now, however, he would not dare underestimate her. She had the blood of elves running through her, after all. She was much older, and wiser, than she appeared.

She had dropped everything and nearly him to the floor, to help him find Pearl. Each and every single time. And seeing that Pearl got herself lost more times than he could even remember, they traveled together quite a bit. It always puzzled him that a complete stranger would drop everything that she was doing and help a total stranger. Being Jumi, he did not run into kind strangers often. He could not afford the naivete that the world was kind.

Elazul's body twitched slightly as a spasm ran through him. The next thing he knew, Ceres' was helping back down into a lying position on the bed. She was so close to him. Her scent, cinnamon and roses, was driving him out of his mind. She smiled sweetly at him and ran her finger over the skin around his core. Elazul let loose a small moan. He was quite proud of himself that he didn't blush, but he had already embarrassed himself by moaning.

It was by no means what one would be thinking if they were to walk in on the Lapis Knight and Sprite. Ceres was actually checking up on his condition. The skin around his core was red with irritation and it was hurting like hell, almost as bad as the core injury itself. Ceres would have touched his core, but she must have known how bad that would have hurt.

"You're still sick, Elazul," Ceres said softly. "Whether you would like to admit it or not."

"I said I was fine!" Elazul found himself arguing. Mana, he hated to fight with her, but he knew that Pearl would most likely wander herself into some kind of danger and he would need to be there to protect her.

She placed her hand on his forehead. "It was bad enough when you were out of your mind with fear and pain. Remember, I had to practically tie you down to keep you from running off to find Pearl?"

Oh, yes. He remembered… barely. If he had been in his right mind, he might have enjoyed her pinning him down on the bed. But as it stood, he was more worried about finding Pearl. Yes, finding Pearl was his top priority.

Too bad Ceres was not going to let him out of her sight. From what she had told him, the first few days after his injury, he had been fighting to get loose from her, to go find Pearl. She had said that he had been delirious and out of his mind. She had said that she was afraid that he wasn't going to make it for a little while.

The last couple of days, however, were clearer. Each and every single time that Ceres came to check up on Elazul, they seemed to have the same argument. He wanted to go and find Pearl, and she threatened him with the idea of the twins using him for target practice if he tried to move from the bed. Besides, she had said, she herself had gone looking for Pearl… and there was no sign of either the diminutive Guardian or the battle hardened Blackpearl.

Ceres merely gave Elazul a cool look. "I know you want to find Pearl, but in the state that you're in, you will only end up getting… hurt." Ceres dared not to say what they both were really thinking. He knew she was terrified of him dying on her. When he had woken up for the first time after several days of delirium, she had thrown herself over him and gave him the biggest hug ever.

"That's beside the point!" he argued back. "You know that I am okay! Pearl might be in trouble for all we know, and you insist on playing doctor! Ceres, Pearl needs me! I have to go find her!"

Ceres, for her credit, rolled her eyes. Elazul was beginning to get a little pissed. "I will go looking for Pearl, so quit with the tantrum."

"You don't have the bond that we do!" Elazul found himself practically shouting. He only meant that he could sense Pearl where Ceres couldn't, but the Sprite apparently didn't take it to mean that way. She looked slightly hurt, but quickly shrugged it off.

"You are not going out and that's final."

"Oh, and how do you plan on keeping me here? You have to sleep sometime," Elazul said smugly.

Ceres gestured towards her pet Rabite, Eris. The cuddly pet jumped down on the bed next to Elazul's head, and gave him a lopsided grin. Why the girl had named the pet after the ancient elven word for chaos was beyond her.

"Eris will keep an eye on you!" Ceres said as she walked out of the room. She closed the door behind her, leaving Elazul and Eris in the room alone.

Elazul smiled at his good fortune. At least it wasn't the twins to watch him. Getting past a small Rabite would be easy. Well, at least Elazul thought it would be easy. The second he sat up, that damned Rabite jumped up on his chest and with force he didn't even think was possible for something so small, pushed him back on the bed.

"Goddess! What the hell has that Sprite been feeding you?!" Elazul gaped in surprise. The little Rabite merely gave him that creepy smile.

Okay, this was going to be a little harder than he thought. He attempted to sit up once more, but the little bugger practically slammed into him once more, actually knocking the air out of his lungs this time.

Elazul suppressed a growl of frustration. He made a grab for the Rabite, but Eris nimbly jumped just a little out of his reach. The damned over grown hairball was taunting him! Elazul couldn't help but laugh at that fact. Just like her master, that stupid little fuzzball.

Elazul attempted to jackknife into a sitting position, but the little Rabite pounced him again. Elazul hissed as he rolled out of the way of the little rodent. Eris looked at Elazul in confusion. It looked so sad and vunerable. Elazul could have sworn that Eris' eyes were growing bigger and starting to water.

He idly wondered if a Rabite cried for a Jumi, would they turn to stone as well? He shook his head and hesitantly placed a hand on Eris' head. He awkwardly patted the thing's head. She made a noise of content. Elazul sighed in relief and started for the door.

The next thing he knew, he was being held in place. He turned his head and nearly growled in annoyance. The Rabite had his shirt in her teeth. Damn that thing was strong. He wiggled out of his shirt, still in the teeth of the Rabite. He made a mad dash for the door, but the Rabite proved to be faster and blocked his exit.

Elazul looked up in exasperation and prayed to whatever force that was listening to assist him. Apparently no one was listening and that Rabite jumped on Elazul's head and knocked him to the floor once more.

Dear Goddess, now he knew why that Rabite was called Eris. Even Ceres' pets mocked him!

"You are demon spawn!" Elazul shouted to the cuddly Rabite. "The army of darkness! Why won't you leave me be?!"

The Rabite merely stared up at him with big, watery eyes. Elazul shook his head. "No, that is not going to work this time! I have to go find Pearl!"

Elazul realized that he must have lost it if he was talking to a pet. But then again, it was one of Ceres' pets, so he never knew quite what he was dealing with. He quickly thought of something to distract the thing with. Then it hit him.

Elazul quickly made a mad dash for the table in the room. The same table that held a rather large bottle of bellgrapes wine. Eris was in hot pursuit. He didn't give himself time to wonder why Ceres had a bottle of wine in the room that he was staying in. Maybe drinking calmed her nerves? He would figure out the reason later.

Now, however, he opened the bottle and poured its contents out on the floor. Eris stopped and sniffed the sweet liquid. The next thing he knew, the Rabite was lapping up the wine. Elazul sighed in relief and quickly sneaked passed the intoxicated Rabite and out the door.

He had a lost Guardian to find.

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Ceres could only sigh in humor and annoyance as she looked at her drunk Rabite that was sprawled across Elazul's unoccupied bed. She shook her head in disappointment and crossed her arms.

The Rabite merely looked at Ceres with a sheepish look on her face. Ceres' smiled slightly and patted the Rabite on the head.

"It's fine. I shouldn't have left the bottle in the room. I am so going to kill Elazul when I find him!" Ceres said as she tried to suppress a giggle. The Rabite hiccuped in agreement. "Now come on! We have a couple of Jumi to find!"

The end. ^_^;;;


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